transform string to decimal

Question

This feels wrong:

private decimal ConvertStringToDecimal(string decimalString, decimal defaultReturnValue)
{
    var returnDecimal = defaultReturnValue;

    try
    {
    returnDecimal = decimal.Parse(decimalString.Trim());
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
    // naughty
    }

    return returnDecimal;
}

but I think this is the only way to transform a string from a third party system to a decimal whilst returning a default. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve this?

Answer 1

The easiest and most clean way would be to use decimal.TryParse() like so

private decimal ConvertStringToDecimal(string decimalString, decimal defaultReturnValue)
{
    decimal result;
    if (decimal.TryParse(decimalString.Trim(), out result))
    {
        return result;
    }

    return defaultReturnValue;
}  

Using exceptions to control the returned value isn't a good way, especially if there are better methods to use.

Your indentation is off but I assume that thats a posting issue.

Answer 2

You can write the equivalent shorter, using the ternary operator ?: and decimal.tryParse, like this:

private decimal ConvertStringToDecimal(string decimalString, decimal defaultReturnValue)
{
    decimal value = decimal.TryParse(decimalString, out value) ? value : defaultReturnValue;
    return value;
}